Help cycling please

[lovemyfish79]

I think I'm going to just put my aquaclear 30 on my 20 gallon along with the false wall I built into it as well until I know that everything is working properly. Little extra flow won't hurt it haha. How are you doing Carey, you answered a lot of my questions when I first started my ten gallon! Haha

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[lovemyfish79]

This is what I'm referring to as bioballs, they're not "bioballs", pretty sure they're called bio pellets? They came with my aquaclear 30 when I bought it and seem to be working good?

 

[carey]

I call them bio-rings. lol Bio pellets go into a reactor and are completely different.

Good call, a little extra flow and filtration never hurt anyone.

 

[lovemyfish79]

Question for everyone, would you recommend a protein skimmer for a 20 gallon long or am I just wasting my money?

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[BigRedsReefs10]

It's not a waste of money but it's not required on a 20 either. It will help keep your params more stable

 

[mr_X]

I would skip it. They are ugly and can produce microbubbles. It's very easy to keep a 20 clean with weekly water changes. I believe skimmers are for bigger tanks where water changes are quite large and costly.

 

[carey]

I agree, I wouldnt rush out to get a skimmer for a tank that size.

I kept a few smaller tanks with no skimmer and only added them for a specific reason, one tank i was overfeeding ALOT cause of the mandarin I had in that tank so a skimmer was a good call. BUT if you do weekly water changes and watch your feeding and stocking you will be just fine with no skimmer.

 

[lovemyfish79]

Live sand and base rock came in today! Hopefully have it setup this weekend

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[lovemyfish79]

Alright, one last question before I set this bad boy up this weekend, haha. My plan is to do it just like a water change but add 15 gallons on new water and 5 of what's in my ten, is that right? If not what do I do? I'm going to "rinse" the base rock off in the 5 gallons of left over saltwater or should I just rinse it with ro/di water?

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[BigRedsReefs10]

I would just use 20 gallons of new water, the bb will be on your rock. One thing you may want to consider is soaking the new base rock for a while in ro/di, then after a couple days check that water for phosphate because base rock can leach phosphate into your system

 

[lovemyfish79]

Alright finally got it wet, waiting for the silicone on my media rack to dry so I can get some media in the, only thing I have now is some live rock robble that I got from my lfs and one piece of live rock from my ten

 

[lovemyfish79]

Better picture with the water cleared up

 

[lovemyfish79]

Everyone moved in today! Occ's are seeming to enjoy it kinda mad I didn't paint the back blue but other then that pretty satisfied